England, Ireland, And Oliver Cromwell’s Lasting Musical Legacy

Posted in Culture Shock, Kiss Me I'm Irish, Music |

Along the same lines as this Flogging Molly song is a Pogues song entitled “Young Ned of the Hill.” This song is a passionate remembrance of the brutal destruction of Irish birthright, land ownership, and title brought about by Cromwell. This song stands out due to the rousing last few lines:

You have robbed our homes and fortunes
Even drove us from our land
You tried to break our spirit
But you’ll never understand
The love of dear old Ireland
That will forge and iron will
As long as there are gallant men
Like young Ned of the hill

This song seems to be an inspiring battle cry and a reminder to the English that the love of the homeland will never be extinguished in the Irish. Not even when faced with serious adversity.

The son of Irish-Catholic Immigrants, Stephen Patrick Morrissey is a cultural icon all his own. On his seminal 2004 album You are the Quarry, Morrissey sang of his life as an Irish-English scrapper in “Irish Blood, English Heart.” The song is one of his most political songs, wherein he laments of dreaming of a future where the English people are “sick to death of Labour, and Tories, and spit upon the name of Oliver Cromwell and denounce the royal line that still salute him. . . ”

This lyric is particularly interesting for a number of reasons. First, he mentions his dislike of two of the major (modern) English political parties; next, Cromwell’s connection to the current monarchy. Due to Cromwell’s tactics, and his Lord Protector status, after his death, a new monarchy eventually took hold of England. The Stuart dynasty held a flimsy grasp on England, Ireland, and Scotland, eventually losing the lands to the Hanover Monarchy of German Kings and Queens that rules to this day. Though the Hanover line has become “The Windsor Family,” they are an outside ruling class lording over the English. Many historians believe the Hanover control of the country is a direct effect of the era of Cromwell.

Morrissey is also clearly directly drawing a line here connecting the modern “Irish Troubles” and Cromwell’s building of the first modern army and an outside monarchy’s tight control over the United Kingdom. The Lord Protector strikes again.

There are a number of other references to Cromwell in modern music. Perhaps most absurd is “The Oliver Cromwell Song” by Monty Python. This song is literally a laundry list of Cromwell’s political achievements, failures, and eventual death. Peppered with humorous notes including the height of Charles I at the start of his reign (5’6″) and the end (4’8″), the song is basically a reading with a semi-sung chorus (the music is Chopin’s Heroic Polonaise): “Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England (and its warts)/Born in 1599 Died in 1658 (September).”

Again, why Cromwell? For people living outside of English commonwealth rule, he may not even register on the radar. . . hell, for non-history buffs, he’s probably a non-existent entity. In terms of artists like Shane McGowan, Moz, Elvis Costello, and Flogging Molly’s Irish-born lead singer Dave King, the Irish tradition of the chantey and the desire to release the demons of the past through song seems to be one of the myriad reasons for discussing Cromwell in their music. Their passion, dedication, and desire to understand injustice lead them to this man, and their respect and love for Ireland, its people, and its history compels them to teach the world about its often brutal, but always interesting, history.

As for John Cleese? I suspect he was just trying to make a buck.

Listen to the songs mentioned in this article here:

Elvis Costello and The Attractions, “Oliver’s Army”
Flogging Molly, “Tobacco Island”
The Pogues, “Young Ned of the Hill”
Morrissey, “Irish Blood, English Heart”
Monty Python, “The Cromwell Song”

For more on this topic, read Oliver’s Army: A History of British Soldiers in Ireland and Other Colonial Conflicts by Aly Renwick (available online in its entirety), and check out the Troops Out Movement website.

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